Sol 5.6

  1. Nuʿm has indeed sent word to us: “Come to us.”

    How delightful a sender she is, even when angry!

  2. I sent back that I could not; then she sent again,

    reaffirming the oaths of the reproachful beloved.

  3. So I said to Jannād: Take the sword and gird yourself

    with it firmly; watch until the sun goes down.

  4. Saddle the dark mare for me, and take my waistcloth with you;

    do not let a living soul know where I am bound.

  5. Your appointed meeting place is al-Baṭḥāʾ, in the vale of Yaʾjaj,

    or the ravine of Dhū al-Marwakh in the vale of Mughrib.

  6. When at last we met, she greeted me and smiled,

    then spoke as one who turns away and keeps aloof:

  7. “Was it for a spiteful tale-bearer, trafficking in slander,

    who came between us? You believed him and did not call him false.

  8. You severed the cords of union between us; whoever heeds

    an agitator’s word about one he loves will earn reproach.”

  9. That night my pillow was the fold of a henna-dyed hand,

    oft returned to and sweet, never clouded by drinking.

  10. Whenever I leaned, she leaned with me, supple as a dune—

    pampered and exquisitely lovely in her draped attire.

Sol 5.6